


Saving a Friend

by Shadow_of_Quill



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28295718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_of_Quill/pseuds/Shadow_of_Quill
Summary: Frisk and the voice in their head.
Relationships: Chara & Frisk (Undertale)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28
Collections: Papchat Secret Santa 2020





	Saving a Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Captain_Toad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Toad/gifts).



> I really hope you like this, Captain Toad!

Frisk hadn't understood at first. They fell down a hole in a mountain. They were attacked by a talking flower. They were saved by a goat-monster.

The voice in their head just seemed like another part of the weirdness of the Underground. A _helpful_ weirdness, one that explained things the monsters didn't realise Frisk needed to have explained, a _fun_ weirdness, with sarcastic remarks and opinions and... and Frisk wasn't sure when they realised that the voice in their head was another person, a closer friend than anyone else _could_ be.

The voice didn't realise that they were a separate person at first, either. Frisk wasn't sure which of them figured that out first, but they had a few quiet moments trying to guess what the voice's name was - Sam? Max? Red?

None of the names felt right to the voice, so Frisk never used them. The two of them made their way through the Underground, talking to monsters, fighting monsters, showing mercy to some of them and killing others - the voice got sharper as Frisk's LOVE rose, comments more cutting, but Frisk didn't really notice because they were just as affected - and then they thought they'd reached the end.

And then they both decided they didn't like this end, and Frisk told the voice to reset.

Flowey knew. (But not about the voice, not about Frisk's hidden friend, only about Frisk's actions in their previous journey through the Underground...) Flowey knew, and Flowey called Frisk the wrong name ("Hey, Chara!"), and Frisk didn't really question it when the voice decided that they liked that name.

**It feels right,** they said thoughtfully, and Frisk agreed to use it, and they went through the Underground again and again, Frisk and Chara, learning how to spare more monsters each time, _choosing_ to spare more monsters, seeing end after end and agreeing every time that they weren't good enough.

And then the two of them left enough monsters alive, poked and prodded enough, to learn where Chara's name came from. To guess who Chara _was._

Things felt different, after that. Chara wasn't just a voice in Frisk's head, wasn't just a helpful companion - Chara was the Human Child who was Asriel's sibling, was the reason for Asriel's death, was -

**I don't remember,** Chara said as emotionlessly as they could, as if Frisk hadn't been talking to them long enough to know that they had as many feelings as Frisk did. None of the monsters heard them, not even Papyrus with his weird hints of knowing _more_ than he should - not even _Flowey,_ even though he insisted on calling Frisk by the wrong name.

No one heard them but Frisk, and Frisk was starting to think that Chara deserved more than that.

They went through the Underground, and reset, and went through the Underground, and reset, and went through the Underground... They learned how to show mercy to everyone alive, they felt like they'd befriended every monster in the Underground, they faced Flowey and learned that he _was_ Asriel, he was what was _left_ of Asriel, and then Frisk learned that they couldn't save everyone. They could destroy the barrier, they could free the monsters, they could bring most of their new friends to live on the surface - but they couldn't rescue Asriel, who returned to being Flowey and refused to leave the Underground. And they couldn't hear Chara any more.

Frisk refused to let that be the end.

Frisk reset.

That reset seemed to wipe even Flowey's memories, but Frisk was determined to make things better. Chara said they didn't remember Frisk's previous attempts, but Frisk wasn't sure they were telling the truth.

It didn't matter if they were or not. Frisk refused to leave their closest friend alone in an Underground where no one else could hear them, even if that friend didn't remember which jokes they'd already told or what secrets the two of them had shared.

Frisk rescued Flowey (with a lot of help from Papyrus' Flowey Fan Club). Frisk rescued the Goner monsters, dragging them out of their greyscale barely-there existence. Frisk rescued Gaster.

Frisk explained to everyone they rescued who else they wanted to rescue (because each rescue needed another reset). Flowey pretended not to care, even as he tried to bully Toriel into preparing another bedroom. The Goners shrugged, or nodded, or offered cryptic hints. Gaster beamed. " **The** y're _goin_ g to _need **a bod**_ **y of** their _own,"_ he pointed out, and Frisk knew just who to ask.

Alphys was delighted by the challenge of making a body for the shadow of a human soul.

Frisk tried, and Frisk tried, because Chara deserved this, Chara was willing to die trying to help the monsters and Chara _deserved_ to see the monsters happy. Chara deserved to live with them and _be_ happy.

It took everyone's help, in the end, and Frisk wanted to laugh at themself because of course it did - when everyone worked together, they had enough power to defeat a god (a hypergod of death, even!); of course if they all worked together they could achieve anything they put their minds to, and of course everyone was willing to work together for this!

And finally, _finally,_ the only people left in the Underground were the ones who _wanted_ to be there (the Gyftrot for one was happier with every other person Frisk removed), and Alphys revealed the body she'd built for Chara's soul (with the input of Flowey and Frisk _and_ Chara, and Asgore had winced and Toriel had cringed and Chara had laughed till they cried and refused to let Alphys change a single thing about it).

The separation was slow, and careful, and Frisk was more than willing to donate as much of their determination as Chara needed to keep themself here with everyone who cared about them.

And then it was done, and Frisk was sat beside the bed Chara's new body rested on, waiting.

Chara blinked their new determination-red eyes open, and turned to look at Frisk, and smiled.

Frisk smiled back, and found that they couldn't think of anything to say. They usually couldn't, Chara had been the one suggesting every flirty comment and compliment and everything they'd said to the monsters in the Underground.

Chara had always known what to say, and they knew now, too. "Hey, look! You're still you!" They pointed at their chest. "And this is me!"

Frisk nodded. "It's you!" they echoed. "It's _you!"_ and they lunged forwards, arms outstretched, and Chara laughed and sat up, and Frisk wrapped their arms around their closest friend, the hardest person to rescue from the Underground.

Frisk hugged Chara, the way they'd wanted to ever since they first realised that the voice helping them and guiding them and making the Underground feel less overwhelming, more of an adventure than a disaster, was a person.

Frisk hugged Chara, and Chara hugged them back, and Frisk knew that they'd finally succeeded.

They'd never have to reset again.

They'd finally saved _everyone._


End file.
